Vasco Núñez de Balboa - Notable Biographies

(Unknown - 1519/01/15)

Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Explorer, ruler and Spanish conquistador

He was born in Jerez de los Caballeros in the year 1475. Descendant of the Lords of the castle of Balboa, Villafranca, in the current lion.
Come to the new world he managed to quickly replace Enciso as head of the fledgling colony of Santa Maria of the Antigua del Darién. In 1509, escaping from his creditors in Santo Domingo, he embarked as stowaway (within a barrel) in the Expedition commanded by the Mayor of Nueva Andalucía, Martín Fernández de Enciso who came out to help the Governor Alonso de Ojeda. He soon revealed itself as a magnificent administrator, endowed Besides good military clothing.
Having heard the indigenous people of a large expanse of water located beyond the mountains, whose shores were rich in pearls and gold, in 1513 he crossed the isthmus of Panama mountains and first saw the Pacific Ocean, which took possession in the name of the King of Spain. He was replaced as Governor of Castilla de Oro by Pedrarias Dávila, who sent him to discover the fantastic treasures of Dobayba. Recently the failure of this expedition, was appointed in 1515 in advance of the sea of the South under the authority of Pedrarias.
It planned an exploration of the coastline of the Pacific southwards with intention to Peru, which had heard in 1513. Required by Pedrarias, he was charged with imaginary crimes, with the collaboration of Francisco Pizarro, was condemned and beheaded inAcla January 15, 1519.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from its eastern coast and the first European to establish a permanent city in American continental lands.